Career

Teamed with Chad Hugo to form the producing duo the Neptunes while still
in high school; sold first song, "Rump Shaker," to rappers
Wreckx-N-Effect, 1992; produced "Tonight's the Night"
for R&B group Blackstreet, 1994; began producing chart-bound songs
for acts like Babyface, Nelly, Britney Spears, and Usher,
1998—formed own artistic act, N.E.R.D., early 2000s; released debut
album,
In Search Of ,
2002.

Awards:
Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, 2004.

Sidelights

Behind every chart-topping singer is a behind-the-scenes producer who is
in charge of the creative mix that underlies each song. It does not matter
how solid a song's lyrics or performer; the producer can ultimately
make or break a hit. Over the past few years, Pharrell Williams has
emerged as one of the most revolutionary producers of 21st century music.
He is one-half of a production duo

Pharrell Williams

called the Neptunes; childhood friend Chad Hugo makes up the other half.
As producers, the Neptunes have put their touch on more than 150 songs and
generated hits in nearly every musical genre with their innovative,
out-of-this-world beats. Williams and Hugo are the masterminds behind such
hits as urban pop-rapper Nelly's "Hot in Herre,"
rapper Jay-Z's "I just Wanna Love U (Give it to Me),"
R&B star Usher's "U Don't Have to
Call," and pop star Britney Spears' "I'm A
Slave 4 U."

At one point in 2003, 20 percent of all songs receiving air time on
British radio had Williams' touch. The music industry took note and
in 2004, the Neptunes walked away with the coveted producer of the year
award at the Grammys. In the early 2000s, Williams and Hugo stepped out
from behind the scenes and became front-stage material when they formed
their own group, called N.E.R.D., which released albums in 2002 and 2004.
Since then, Williams has spent a lot of time on the road touring to
promote the albums.

Though Williams exudes a city-slick, tough-as-nails playboy persona by
sporting "bling" (diamond jewelry), wearing his ball cap
tipped to the side and dropping plenty of expletives into each
conversation, he is really a nerdy suburbanite at heart.
"I'm
no rapper," he told
Time'
s Josh Tyrangiel. "I'm, like, a suburban kid."
Williams was born on April 5, 1973, to Pharoah and Carolyn Williams and
grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the oldest of three boys. His father
was a handyman and house painter and his mother was a teacher.
Williams' success has brought him plenty of money, in stark
contrast to his upbringing. He grew up in a household where paying the
bills posed a problem at times. "It wasn't, like, third
world poverty, but let's just say we ate a lot of pork and
beans," Williams' younger brother, David Williams, told the
London
Guardian
's Paul Lester while N.E.R.D. was touring in Europe. Williams
helped his parents out by buying them a house after he made it big.

Growing up, Williams' musical influences were just as diverse as
the music he now produces. He listened to Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder,
and Queen and believes Axl Rose is the biggest rock star of all time.
Since childhood, Williams has made a point of allowing himself to enjoy
all types of music by not tying his identity to any one genre. "I
love Kool Moe Dee, but I also love America," Williams told
Time'
s Tyrangiel. "And I would never let my appreciation for one kind of
music keep me from listening to another."

Williams took a personal interest in music in seventh grade after his
grandmother suggested he join the school band. He took her advice and
chose to become a percussionist. Williams' involvement in school
bands as an adolescent provided two key tools for his adult
success—the ability to read music and discipline, which he learned
as a member of a marching band drum line. "Being a drummer is
megamacho," Williams told
People
magazine. "I'm constantly pushing myself. I got that from
band camp. We were pushed on a military level."

The school band also provided a backdrop for his friendship with Hugo, a
boy who attended the same Virginia Beach school for gifted children as
Williams. Hugo played saxophone. They became fast pals and spent their
free time experimenting with samplers and beat production. By eleventh
grade, they were calling themselves the Neptunes and were discovered by a
scout for music producer Teddy Riley while performing in a school talent
show. Riley, who had collaborated with Michael Jackson, had a studio near
their school. Riley let them work on songs and make some tracks at his
studio.

In 1992, while still in high school, Williams and Hugo sold their first
song, "Rump Shaker," to the rap ensemble Wreckx-N-Effect. It
appeared on the group's second album,
Hard or Smooth.
The related video was wildly popular, producing a fervor that nearly
matched the enthusiasm for Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got
Back." Sales of the album soared and it was platinum-certified. A
second big break came in 1994 when Riley had them produce the track
"Tonight's the Night" for his R&B vocal group
Blackstreet. In 1998, they hooked up with hardcore hip-hop rapper Noreaga
to produce his single "SuperThug." The music industry took
note of the Neptunes and more jobs rolled in. Soon enough, artists like
Snoop Dogg were knocking at their door and Williams could concentrate on
making music, a job he enjoyed more than a stint at McDonald's.
Incidentally, Williams wrote and produced the popular McDonald's
"I'm Lovin' It" jingle.

As the producing duo known as the Neptunes, Williams and Hugo have written
songs and mapped out the beats for such artists as Janet Jackson,
Babyface, Mary J. Blige, and Justin Timberlake, as well as rock acts No
Doubt, Garbage, and Marilyn Manson. Songs produced by the duo often
feature startling synthesizer beats and rock guitar riffs resulting in a
fresh, cutting-edge style. Sometimes they include sound snippets from
1980s pop culture, such as Atari-game bleeps and early cell phone rings.
Writing in the
Washington Post,
David Segal described their phenomenon this way: "In pop, every
age has its sound and few producers have shaped the sound of today as much
as Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. Their work is distinctly digital age,
comprising hard, flat tones, repetitive electronic hooks and arrangements
that make use of the silence between the beats." Segal described
their genius as their ability to play down a track. Unlike other
producers, they never add useless passages just for the sake of extending
a song, or trying to create something that just is not there.
"There's nothing extra on a song like [Spears']
'Slave 4 U.' You get enough to make you dance and nothing
more."

The Neptunes are such popular music-makers they command six-figure
salaries to deliver a single tune and artists seem happy to cough up the
money for the chance to work with the duo. Williams and Hugo view each
song they produce as a fresh opportunity. They strive to give pop artists
more attitude and rappers more emotional depth. "We want people to
sound different," Williams told Tyrangiel in
Time.
"Taking somebody from A to B is cool, but when we produce, we want
to take people from A to D, to challenge their artistic natures, their
image, everything." From all accounts, they seem to be doing the
job well. "Pharrell is a very sweet guy," Blige told
People.
"If he writes a song, he writes the song for you."

In 2002, the Neptunes placed five top-ten hits on the
Billboard
Hot 100 Singles chart, including Nelly's
"Hot in Herre," which peaked at number one; Usher's
"U Don't Have to Call," which peaked at number three;
LL Cool J's "Luv U Better," which peaked at number
four; "Girlfriend," by 'N Sync featuring Nelly, which
peaked at number five; and N.O.R.E.'s
"Nothin'," which peaked at number ten. In 2003,
Justin Timberlake's "Rock Your Body" hit number five
on the chart and Jay-Z's "Excuse Me Miss" peaked at
number eight. The real payoff came the following year, in 2004, when
Williams and Hugo won the Grammy Award for producer of the year. In an
interview with
Billboard'
s Rashaun Hall, Williams made producing sound easy, equating it to
decorating a house. "You're going to need the
basics—like a couch—and then you personalize it according to
what your personality is."

In the early 2000s, Williams and Hugo stepped out from behind the sound
boards to create their own band with pal Shae Haley, who goes by the
moniker Shay. They call themselves N.E.R.D., an acronym for "No One
Ever Really Dies." For the trio, N.E.R.D. is more than just a name;
it is also their philosophy on life. Writing on the band's website,
http://www.n-e-r-d.com, Williams explained the philosophy this way:
"People's energies are made of their souls. When you die,
that energy may disperse but it isn't destroyed. Energy cannot be
destroyed. It can manifest in a different way but even then it's
like their souls are going somewhere. If it's going to heaven or
hell or even if it's going into a fog or somewhere in the
atmosphere to lurk unbeknownst to itself, it's going
somewhere."

N.E.R.D. released its debut album
In Search Of
in 2002, followed by
Fly or Die
in 2004. Ironically, songs from their albums have never been as
successful as ones they have produced for other artists. N.E.R.D. members
created their first album using synthesizers, then re-recorded it with a
live instrumental band. The combination created a unique sound. Instead of
hearing one of their legendary single-hand keyboard lines on synthesizer,
the passages were played on guitar, with guitars imitating synthesizers.

On its first album, N.E.R.D. explored adolescent anxiety and awkwardness.
Writing on the Virgin Records website, the trio spoke out about the
content of
In Search Of
: "This album is like a life soundtrack. It's a diary of
[stuff] we've been through over the last year or two. We're
just trying to express ourselves as colorful as possible, as musical as
possible." Songs include "Backseat Love," about girls
who refuse to go all the way and "Lapdance," which compares
politicians and strippers.

Because the tone of the songs on each album is diverse, it is tough to
place N.E.R.D.'s music in any one genre. Their sound is a fusion of
hip-hop, rock, jazz, and soul backed by guitars under Williams'
falsetto singing. Because of this, N.E.R.D. has not seen a lot of radio
airtime because DJs do not know where to place the songs. But that does
not mean N.E.R.D. plans to change its ways. Speaking to the
Washington Post
's Segal, Williams said the group would not be shoe-horned into one
area. Like his song lyrics, Williams spoke in metaphor. "The music
is very in-between. A Ferrari is not meant to be in suburban areas.
It's meant to be in upper-echelon areas, and it's not meant
to be driven around the ghetto. There are a lot of things that
don't necessarily fit, but some of us don't give a [darn.]
We drive our Ferraris wherever we want, and the rest of the world
doesn't always understand that. I think I stay true to what I
believe, and N.E.R.D. just pushes the envelope."

By forming N.E.R.D. and touring, Williams has moved from an anonymous,
behind-the-scenes producer to a crowd-mobbed sex symbol. He is a
predictable crowd-pleaser: slim and tattooed with a carefree style. Though
papers have paired him with many women over the years, Williams is most
often seen with Jade Jagger, daughter of Mick Jagger of the Rolling
Stones. Beyond his sex appeal, Williams has also earned a reputation as a
competent musician. He performed at the 2004 Grammy Awards alongside an
all-star cast of musicians in a rendition of the Beatles classic "I
Saw Her Standing There." Williams, on drums, was accompanied by
Sting, Vince Gill, and Dave Matthews. The highlight, of course, was his
Grammy win.

In addition to producing and writing songs, Williams has his own clothing
company, called Billionaire's Boys Club (BBC). He also has a
sneaker line that he named Ice Cream because "ice and cream are two
things that run the world," Williams told Paul Lester in the
Guardian.
"The jewellery—the ice—the diamonds; and the cream
is the cash." Williams and Hugo also have their own imprint record
label through Arista, called Star Trak Entertainment. As such, they now
have the opportunity to launch the careers of up-and-coming stars. As for
the future, Williams has a pretty ambitious plan. "I'm going
to make $500 million—that's my goal," he told
Rolling Stone.
"Of that, I'll only keep $100 million, for my
family."